Focus on Life 52 photos week 15 "Aged Beauty"

Hi Y'all,

Week 15 of Sally Russick's Focusing on Life 52 photo's prompt is "Aged Beauty".

I have always been fascinated with old items, old furniture, old buildings and old homes.  So after work last Saturday I went out and took pictures of some old homes in the downtown area of Montgomery.  

This house was originally built in 1863 during the civil war. The front of this house was changed in 1908 and still looks the same today.  The following photo is of the historical sign telling the history of the house.

It is amazing the transformation of this house just by changing the front entrance it is hard to believe it is the same house.

This is the second of the Dowe houses built in 1885.  I love all the gingerbread designs on the outside of this old Victorian. In this photo you can not really see it, but there is a beautiful stained glass window above the front door. Below is the second side of the historical sign explaining the history of the other two Dowe homes.

This is the third of the Dowe homes built in 1890.

These homes are a bit of Montgomery's past that is still standing and is now surrounded by modern architecture.

If you would like to see more "Aged Beauty" go on over to Sally's blog and check them out.

Happy beading Y'all,

Therese

Focus on Life 52 photos weeks 13 and 14

Hi Y'all,

Wow I am so sorry that I missed last Saturday's post for week 13- Have Faith.  Here is what Sally  had to say about the prompt "Have Faith"...

Week 13~ Have Faith

Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe.

                                       ~ Augustine

There are many of us who are religious and there are many of us who are not, but most of us religious or not have faith in someone or something.  A faith that gets us through our day, a sickness or even a death.  Faith is held by each of us, it is what keeps us believing  that there will always be a positive outcome even if we can't see it at the time.  

So my take on "Have Faith" is the Civil Rights Movement in the South.  As many of you know I live in Montgomery, AL one of the places that was a big part of the Civil Rights Movement in the South.

Montgomery is where the bus boycott took place when Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat in the front of the bus to a white male and move to the back of the bus.  Montgomery is where Martin Luther King Jr. preached in the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, which is now named The Martin Luther King Jr. Dexter Avenue Memorial Church.

 

Montgomery is where the Southern Poverty Law Center is located where citizens civil rights are still fought for today. 

 

Because of the faith of some very strong people that were willing to stand up and fight for what is right for a human being the United States would still be segregated and we would not have a black man for President, or any other race other than white, or even a woman one day for President.  The struggle is not over, but it is certainly less then it was Sixty years ago.

This is the Parsonage house for the Dexter Ave Memorial Church where the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. lived with his wife and two young children.  A black wreath was place at the front door to commemorate  the assassination of the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr.  April 4, 1968.

The Martin Luther King Jr. Dexter Ave. Memorial Church.

The Civil Rights Memorial fountain in front of the Southern Poverty Law Center

Yes, I am thankful for those that had strong faith and fought for the right to be a respected human being, which helped establish the civil rights for all human beings.

Week 14 - Up Close

Here is what Sally had to say about "Up Close"...

The macro shot! 

Start exploring the details of the ordinary up close and

glimpse a world that you may never have noticed until you observed it magnified!  Get up close and personal with the subject of your choice and snap a macro shot!   

How close can you get?

This is a shot of a green tinted Chrysanthemum that was part of an Easter flower arrangement on my Sister's dinning room table.
 

This is an Bearded Iris that I took while I was on my walk around downtown Montgomery taking the photos of the "Have Faith" prompts.

I enjoy taking close up photos of flowers you never know what is going to be revealed when you get close up. 

Well there y'all have it two weeks in one post.  If you want to see more interesting "Up Close" shots head on over to Sally's blog and check them out.

Happy beading Y'all,

Therese

  

She Made/She Made April pick

Hi Y'all

Wow I have been very busy with so many things in my life right now, that I have neglected my blog.  I have also neglected going and visiting y'all's blogs as well.  I did not have a single chance to visit any of the first reveal in the Bead Soup Blog Party and I do apologize, but I will get there eventually.

As most of y'all know Christine of One Kiss Creations  and I do a monthly challenge from the gift of beads that we gifted each other last July when we met in person.  We both kept half of what we gave each other and decided that once a month one of us would pick something from the lot to create with, then blog about it at the end of the month.  So April was my turn to pick and here is what I picked to play and create with.

A beautiful glass cab created by Linda Roberts I won two of these in a giveaway on her blog a while back.

The oval stones I believe are some kind of Agate this photo does not do them justice there color is a greenish yellow.  

I have no idea what I am going to do at this point in the game, but come back on April 30th and see what Christine and I created with our April pick from the gift stash.

Happy beading Y'all,

Therese

She made/She made March Reveal

Hi Y'all,

Wow can you believe it is almost the end of March!  Where is the time going? I almost did not get my pieces done in time for mine and Christine's She Made/She Made challenge, but I did get them done just in time to do this post.  

It was Christine's turn to choice what we would create with this month. She chose the bronze components created by Lesley Watts, and the 8 mm black lava rock round bead from the stash that I gifted to her. 

borrowed from Christine's blog

I am so looking forward to seeing what marvels Christine has created using the chosen components and beads.

Here is what I made with the almost same components and beads.

This necklace I chose to pair the lava rock beads with some glass beads made by Juli Cannon of Studio Juls. I used some silver plated wire to wire wrap the beads into a chain and then used some white rat tail ribbon and a silver plated heart clasp to finish off the necklace.  This necklace went to my friend Cyn for her birthday gift, she is a big Alabama Football fan.

My next piece is a bracelet I made with the lava rock beads and some serrated daggers  that my son Ryan brought back from York Beads when he went on a trip to New York, thank you Son!  I used size 8 bronze seed beads as spacers between the lava rock beads and size 11 bronze as spacers between the daggers. From the clasp I hung one of Lesley's bronze hearts.  The daggers flop around when you wear the bracelet.

I made these earrings with two of Lesley's bronze connector components and two of the lava rock beads. I also used 3mm cobalt blue crystals and size 8 bronze seed beads strung on to copper wire and hung from copper ear wires.

April will be my pick and I will reveal the pick in a few days.  Thank you for stopping in to see what I created, now hop on over to Christine's blog to see what she has created.  I know you will not be disappointed that you did.

Happy beading Y'all,

Therese

Focusing on Life 52 photos - Week 12 Observe the Curve

Hi Y'all,

First and for most I would like to say thank you, thank you, thank you, to each and everyone of you that have been leaving comments on my blog posts.  I have read all of your comments, some have made me smile and other just laugh right out loud.  Thank you once again for touching my life the way y'all do.

Now for this weeks prompt on Focusing on Life 52 photos,

Sally Russick of Studio Sublime is the master mind behind Focusing on Life 52 photos.  Each Saturday she gives those of us that wish to participate a prompt for the next Saturday's blog post.  This week's prompt is Observing the Curve.  I thought oh boy this one is easy there are so many curves in this world to photograph, but life got in the way and I was down to the wire again.  I managed to get two photos for y'all to see 

My beading needles these babies have beautiful curves and well earned too.  I would not be able to make the beautiful beaded pieces I make without them.

Look at the curves on this beauty.  This antique bird cage is now the proud home of our shop Fairies at the Enchanted Bead store in Montgomery, AL the new home of the Beading Fairies, which I am a member.  The bead store has not officially opened yet the Grand opening will be the 1st of April.  The shop Fairies are there to watch over the shop while we are away.  If you look very closely about mid way down you can see one, she is dressed in lavender, there is another at the bottom of the cage with blond hair and a pink skirt.

Thank you for stopping by today, if you would like to see more curves go to Sally's blog and check out all the other curves.

Happy beading Y'all

Therese

Holiday Bling Blog Hop 3

Hi Y'all,

It is time to reveal to y'all what my partner Leanne Loftus and I made for each other in the Holiday Bling Blog Hop 3 hosted by Marlene Cupo and Shelley Graham Turner.  

The rules were simple (as well they should be, who wants the rules to be difficult) just sign up for the blog hop and Marlene and Shelley will pick a partner for you.  When you found out who your partner was, email her or him (yes you never know one time you might be partnered with a guy) find out some interesting facts about your partner and pick a holiday the two of you would like to create a piece for.  Well Leanne and I chose to do the Chinese New Year, which was February 10, 2013 the year of the Snake.  Once Leanne and I made our choice I knew just what I was going to make and set out to design it.  I knew it was going to take me a little while to get it done, so I started on it right away.  Of course once I sketched out my design I had to make an order for beads pretty 3mm ABX2 Swaroski bicone crystals in four different colors.  When they arrived I could not wait to get started.

Are there any guesses on what I created?  Ah come on now, if you know me I bet you can guess.  Well first let me show you what my partner Leanne sent to me.

This necklace is beautiful these pictures really do not do the necklace justice.  Leanne did an Asymmetrical design, using bright colored cloth cord with Asian print on one side and wire wrapped pearls and Jade beads on the other.  The awesome Chinese coin pendant is hanging from a green silk ribbon.  Pearls and a crystal are dangling in front of the coin.  I could not believe my eyes when I saw the coin, so I asked Leanne if this was something that she already owned, or if not where did she find it?  She said that she found it on Ebay!

I enjoy wearing this necklace it is just the right weigh and length, it is very comfortable to wear. I love it!

Now for what I sent to Leanne.

 A good and wonderful beady friend of mine Marla Gibson sent me these beautiful Cloisonne` beads.  They have little gold fish on them, so I felt that they had a Chinese feel to them and made a pair of earrings.

This took me almost two weeks to finish.  This was the only project I worked on while on my beading retreat with my Beading Fairies group.  I love how it turned out.  I am sure that someone else could have drawn a better snake, but I think that I did okay.

Thank you Marlene and Shelley for coming up with a great idea for a blog hop.  I very much enjoyed being a part of this one, and meeting and making a new friend in Leanne.

Please go and check out the others that are participating in this Holiday Bling Blog Hop 3.

Alicia Marinache

www.allprettythings.ca

Catherine King

http://catherines-musings.blogspot.com

Chris Schlicht

TBD

Cynthia Machata

http://antiquitytravelers.blogspot.com

Dyanne Cantrell

http://deelitefuljewelrycreations.blogspot.com

Gina Hockett

http://freestyleelements.blogspot.com

Jennifer Reno

http://jenrenjewelry.blogspot.com

Laura Reed

TBD

Leanne Loftus

http://firstimpressiondesign.blogspot.com

Lennis Carrier

http://www.windbent.net

Lori Bowring Michaud

http://artfullyornamental.blogspot.com

Marti Conrad

http://marticsclay.blogspot.com

Mary Govaars

http://www.mlhjewelrydesigns.com

Renetha Stanziano

http://lamplightcrafts.blogspot.com

Rita/ Toltec Jewels

http://www.jewelschoolfriends.com

Sandra McGriff

http://skyescreativechaos.blogspot.ca

Sarah Goode

http://www.pookledo.com

Sherri Stokey

www.KnotJustMacrame.com

Sonya Stille

http://dreaminofbeads.blogspot.com

Tammie Everly

http://ttedesigns.blogspot.com

Therese Frank

http://theresestreasures59.blogspot.com

Tiffany Goff Smith

http://www.southerngalsdesign.blogspot.com

Marlene Cupo

http://amazingdesigns-marlene.blogspot.com

Shelley Graham Turner

www.shelleygrahamturner.blogspot.com

Focusing on Life 52 photos - Week 11 The Possibilities Are Endless

Hi Y'all,

Week 11 of Focusing on Life 52 photos is all about "The Possibilities Are Endless" Sally Russick of The Studio Sublime gave us the prompt to take a picture of what represents "The Possibilities Are Endless"

So I went to what I love the best.

That's right my seed beads and other fun beads!  The possibilities are truly endless in this pile.

Please head on over to Sally's blog and see what the other endless possibilities are.

Happy beading Y'all

Therese